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Portuguese police search football clubs over suspected money laundering

Xinhua, May 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Portugal's judiciary police carried out searches on Tuesday at three football clubs in the country over suspicions of money laundering.

The police searched the clubs Uniao de Leiria, Sporting Lisbon and Sporting Braga.

Police are investigating the transportation of money by business people who hold stakes in the club Uniao de Leiria, as the amounts were not declared at customs at the Portuguese airports.

There were suspicions these amounts were used to pay for the transfer of Russian players.

The operation included 22 searches for suspects and led to the confiscation of material for evidence, according to a statement by the judiciary police released on Tuesday.

The statement said the investigation had been ongoing since the start of 2015, and that there were suspicions of crimes involving money laundering, fraud, falsification of documents, and criminal association by both foreign and national citizens.

Uniao de Leiria has been under the leadership of Russian Alexander Tolstikov since 2015. Endit